I think you could investigate before declaring "stupid". Some crazy people even use straights! When used properly, the safety bar does nothing. It does not interact with either the face or the blade. Razors are meant to be used with the cap in constant contact with the skin. This actually takes it out of the equation. If your technique is optimal for a three piece, a DEvette performs similarly. My DIY DEvette Also @Darkbulb I found it no different than any other DE, no adjustment to technique. Ride the cap! My DIY DEvette May 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix and Discussion Made one from a Utopia (89 clone), it was sweet!
Resurected thread. Must be worth revisiting. Time for a pass-around thread, with a Utopia(89 clone)?????
as long as I can get a bottom dial Fatboy out of it, I might consider it. well, a few shots of Ouzo any way
You wot? When used properly, the safety bar serves a very important purpose. The blade exposure is how much blade crosses the invisible line between guard bar and top cap. Without the bar, the razor geometry is completely altered and you have infinitely variable exposure. The bar defines one of the end points of that invisible line, and helps define the appropriate angle of the head and blade against the face. Without it, angle and exposure are all over the place. This is why the fellow who did it in 1934 left two end teeth on the razor - so that there would be something to protect from nicks from the blade corners, and define the geometry. Shaving with something that's been modified with a complete disregard for how the geometry of a DE works (bar defines the blade exposure, and bar and cap define the angle) is an error of biblical proportions. I mean, Old Testament. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! I know of a fellow who owns a Gillette Tech his father had modified to have no guard bars. In that case, the ends of the bar were also removed. He shaves with it once a year, in memory of his dad. He says it's difficult and dangerous to shave with more than that.
Are you sure? Then why was it such a great shave? Safety bar doesn't really contact the skin in any DE, when held at optimal angle. I use a technique called riding the cap, and it takes the bar out of play. The safety bar will prevent cuts if the razor is carelessly placed on to the skin. The guys who ride the bar also generally suffer irritation due to an angle of attack that's too high. I've coached dozens to this conclusion. You are confusing gap and exposure. DE blades also featured muted corners. And how would it be more difficult or dangerous than a straight? And...you realize that the razor I "made" is available commercially, right? Google "Barbe Bleu" Techniques trump tools and notions.
I would try it. I'm thinking of ordering an old model defitch and cutting it to be one of these. The handle and box are worth the price so I won't be upset if I screw something up.
When I watched the video my first thought was, "He's going to hurt himself, should be riding the cap" Thank you Chris @Bama Samurai for making that understandable. I wouldn't be afraid to try this, but then I've used shavettes & straights.
Absolutely correct. When used properly, the guard bar does not touch the face. If it did, it would remove all the lather before the blade did. A steep angle is also a good way to protect against cutting yourself when using one of these. The blade is more likely to "dig in" when used at the same angle as a wood plane (i.e. 'riding the cap'). Try a steep angle sometime, you might be surprised at the results.
I have tried it both ways, and agree that it is "safer" at higher angles. I'm just nuts...but in a related concept: I've recently (this last week) been using a Leopard Salon Razor. Other than six full face shaves on a loaner CJB handle a while back, my technique is purposefully built around a Ralf Aust 5/8 FH round point. (Note to others, not Ryan, reading this exchange: if you shave the face fully, there is no need for a spike point. Thank me later.) I've found that the attack angle required to make a DE saloon blade work optimally is a bit higher than in traditional SR technique. The differences in mass between a real SR and a shavette are also not insignificant. After gaining competency with a straight, a shavette was an easy adjustment, and the differences were so apparent that they were correctable by the second stroke. I've read your shavette guide and really like your thoughts. My addition is that it's easier to learn straights first, and learning shavette first will generate techniques that may just lead to blood with an SR, especially with regard to pressure. As far as open blade shaves in general, straights seem safer to me. The carbon steel edge feels "softer" and gives a slight warning when I am about to go outside the parameters of comfort and safety. DE blades are so light and thin that I can get nicked and not notice it until it bleeds. So DEVettes and salon razors (shavettes) might be best saved for converts with some serious experience with straights. They are all capable of irritation free BBS goodness, but I would send a new convert directly toward traditional straight shaving, and try the disposable blade stuff later.
Rick, I appreciate that. One thing we've neglected to mention is that many DE shavers do not stretch their skin to the degree that SR shaves require. DEvette shaving requires SR style skin techniques to avert disaster.
You are correct again, and the above is why I strongly recommend a Weck if one is starting out with shavettes. It is, for all intents and purposes, a 5/8 frame back straight razor, with a slightly thinner blade than a 'true' frame back razor. If you use NOS Weck carbon blades, you can bring the experience even closer to that of a true straight razor, since you can hone and strop them. A steep angle also provides some skin stretching effect, and is one reason some people find it easier to use. When I used the DEvette, I forgot to do the skin stretching (it never even occurred to me), so it's probably a good thing I used a steep angle. Edit: It was probably the reason I felt a shallow angle was uncomfortable too. This bears looking into, and possibly a repeat DEvette shave.
@gssixgun has a box full of them. I'm sure you could convince him to part with one or two for a nominal fee. I remember reading that he just didn't know what to do with them, but didn't want to just throw them away.
I got excellent shaves with one. Others are correct, ride the cap, and after a couple of strokes, you almost don't realize the guard is gone. What's life without a little danger, or challenge? So, don't knock it lest you try it. .
Well-made tools are better than poorly made ones. (I believe this for everything, from hand tools to musical instruments. Good technique can shine through, but why be held back by lesser tools? If it's a tool I'll use more than once, I buy it. If it's a tool I use regularly, I buy the higher quality one.) Just because something is commercially available doesn't make it sensible. People thought that stropping DE blades in a jar or special DE stropper was a thing, and they were wrong about that, too. http://blog.modernmechanix.com/delusions-about-shaving/ I'm not confusing gap and exposure. Gap is measurable with a feeler gauge, because you measure the amount of distance between blade and bar, height-wise. Exposure is how much of the blade crosses the tangent drawn between bar and cap. People mistake the two (as you thought I was doing) because increasing gap has the effect of changing the tangent and exposing more blade - but it's not the same measurement. Technique matters, no question. Do this if it works for you. I took issue with your claim that the guard serves no purpose and should never touch skin when the razor is used correctly. Instead, it plays a critical role in the geometry of the safety razor - which you're throwing out the window. It's as if you're saying that the geometry intended by the razor manufacturer doesn't matter at all. Carry on, do what works for you. There are well-designed razors that are comfortable and effective with the bar touching the skin at the ideal angle, and there are less-well-designed razors that are uncomfortable when used like that. Sure, it's possible to overcome it with a shallower angle.. or get a better designed tool.
If the bar is intended to touch the skin in front of the blade, then why bother lathering? The bar would remove the lather before the blade arrives. Next time you shave, make sure you are keeping the bar firmly on your face. I promise the shave won't be very comfortable. I would even venture that if you're shaving comfortably, you're probably on the cap and you don't even know it.
I was compelled to test this. First, I whipped up a quick lather. I applied it to cardboard. The lather is a little more watery than I like on my face, but for this test, it doesn't matter much. (Seriously, that's a terrible lather on the cardboard. I made a better one for my face after the test.) The point was to lather the cardboard, and then shave it holding the angle consistently so that the guard bar is in constant contact with the cardboard, and see where the lather goes. Is it snow-plowed out of the way? Does it make it up through the slots under the blade? The answer is, it's a little bit of both. My first pass pulled lather only through the slots. My second pass pulled lather in front of the bar and through the slots. Both times, I was careful to maintain the same angle and to keep the bar in contact with the cardboard. This tells me that the bar does not remove the lather before the blade arrives. I have other razors. I can repeat the experiment - although I pretty satisfied with the result. The lather goes exactly where I thought it would, where I know it goes from experience with other bar razors I have here. I then shaved with the bar held against the face, but with light pressure (firmly? who are we kidding? This isn't a cheese grater.) The bar was always in contact with skin. It was very comfortable. Safety razor designers know what they're doing. The bar doesn't plow lather out of the way so that it never reaches the blade - the lather reaches the blade.
